The Tayali Flamestriders
"Let the fragmented world know unity once again. Let the shards of glass melt back into place. Then, at last, will we usher in the white night of heaven."
Mortals have always pursued power and prosperity. We grasp for one to satiate pride, fear, or ambition - selfish or otherwise. We grasp for the other in search of rest, pleasure and safety. But when set as goals, power only inflames the lust for power, while prosperity ultimately turns to decay.
Most people learn these lessons only after many years. But some work to purge themselves - and the world - of such flaws altogether.
The Tayali Flamestriders describe themselves as an order of disciples, piously obeying the edicts of heaven. And indeed, their actions are for the most part beneficial. They help the hungry, heal the wounded, and maintain the peace. Regardless of nation or species, these figures adorned with bells are symbols of hope.
But in reality, their actions are best described as 'measured intervention'.
This charitable organisation seeks not just peace, but balance. They burned away their own desires to tend to the world - but that care only goes so far.
If all was in "order", perhaps they would simply watch as the world burns.
Refracted Firelight
"If all seven essences coexist in all things, how could one explain the existence of the fire they so venerate?"
The mark of the Tayali is their scars.
Each Tayali has visible burn scars that, upon closer inspection, seem completely different from other such markings. Not only do they have an iridescent sheen, they almost appear... artificed. As if the fire that created them had some kind of intent behind it.
The name "Flamestrider", it turns out, is much more literal than it appears.
Aethereal flame is the hallmark of the Dawn's Scion, one of the Sevenfold Foundations who crafted the world. Its properties are mysterious, but it seems to be purer than any fire mortals can ignite - only some "higher authority" can conjure it.
Contact with aethereal fire has myriad effects, but the chief one is purification. In the past, Zefirua emperors would walk through the fire to purge their souls of weakness and sin. Now, the empire sends criminals into the re-ignited flames as a chance for redemption.
The Tayali use it for a similar purpose: to grant them "illumination".
Even when the Crucible - the only place where aethereal fire can be found in Wyral - was extinguished, the Tayali continued their tradition by asking for one of Nur's ever-burning feathers. Initiate after initiate endures months of training, and then prepares to step into the flame.
The pain is nearly unbearable. One can only hope that they gain an equivalent reward.
Balance in All Things
"What did you see in the flames?"
"I saw... that city in the sky..."
"Good. You have passed through the fire of heaven, and witnessed the destination of mortals."
According to the Tayali's philosophy, the world must return to the white night in which it was born. Just like white light is the combination of an entire spectrum, Wyral is composed of the demesnes of the Wolflords and their various interplays. Only when all things have been restored to their ideal compositions can mortals escape their shackles.
The philosophers at the vanguard of the Flamestriders attempt to determine what this balance point is for everything. They developed the imperfect art of alchemical separation, conducted dissections and readings, even communed with the Exalted - all to understand the foundations of the world.
Each time, the difference between expected and reality is too large to ignore.
So the Tayali attempt to balance the scales. For example, a plague-stricken village is imbalanced in the domains of Lapis and Imber - His power over life and healing, and Her ability to cleanse and flow freely. Thus, they dispatch Flamestriders to tend to the sick and cleanse whatever filth they can, through whichever means necessary.
But there is an ideological component to this as well. A war is a catastrophic overreach of Lyra's "will" and Fulmen's "retribution". The same plague-stricken village suffers from a lack of Lapis' "stability".
The problem, of course, is that trying to match Wolflords with Their assigned Ideals is an unending battle amongst scholars, priests and laypeople. Even the Tayali cannot always agree on which Wolflord represents what, and therefore what the best response should be.
But they know there must be a reaction of some kind.
To those who measure out the ideal compositions of all things, it is all too easy to see "balance" as merely "equivalent exchange".
Shadow Beyond Flame
"Do not claim that this is the work of Eochtal. His flame only illuminates, only purifies - but the fire burning within you has turned everything to ash."
The Tayali have done undeniably positive works over their centuries of existence. They have contained plague outbreaks, dived headfirst into danger to save the weak, and even - on several occasions - prevented wars.
It would be unthinkably hypocritical to criticise this organisation, when they have done so much to help both humans and ikayal. Even in the days of war and darkness, they never stopped trying to bring balance to the world.
And yet, there have been times where the Tayali have not intervened. Though few and far apart, the answers that their leaders give still stir concern: that equilibrium had already been achieved. That "justice" had already cancelled out "self"; that the pure air had brought balance to the rotting earth.
So, some people whisper, if one day a great evil cast its shadow over the sky again...
...would the Flamestriders of Sol judge that it was already balanced out by all their good works?
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